Scammed?

51c5bc16 · ‎10-17-2023

Hello, i am about to accept a project translating 36 pages in 5 days. They will pay me 1.5k plus for this project. This is my first project and I am wondering if I should do it.

Background: i submitted my proposal on Upwork and got a response to talk to a project manager via Telegram. After some discussion, i was given this project but when i came back to Upwork to update my proposal , the job post is removed and so did my conversation with the first person who responded to me. I asked the project manager on Telegram and he said it was normal that they removed the post once they have the freelancer.

bf6aa6e2 · ‎10-17-2023

Sure...I advice you do just igrone them

fd1a3637 · ‎10-17-2023

Just because you want to be scammed doesn't mean you should encourage others to get scammed too. If they want you on telegram before a contract is set up, it is a scam.

spectralua · ‎10-17-2023

It is scam. Report it and move forward.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

This one is tricky. It's not completely uncommon for a client to use Upwork to find a freelancer, but then delete the project after finding one in order to avoid Upwork's fees or restrictions, so I wouldn't say it's necessarily a scam. My suggestion would be to ask them to reactivate the project for your own protection. If they really want to work with you then they will understand and oblige. If they decide against that and you choose to move forward with them, then understand that you're taking a bigger risk and make sure you get a deposit and/or something in writing before you do any work.

sofia2008 · ‎10-17-2023

Nothing tricky here. Communicating outside Upwork before a contract is in place or working outside Upwork are both violations of Upwork's Terms of Service and can get a freelancer's account suspended.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

I believe her question was about whether or not she was likely being scammed, and not about violating any terms of service. So when I said "it's tricky", that's what I was referring to.

sofia2008 · ‎10-17-2023

Freelancers not following the Terms of Service will most likely be scammed sometime in their journey (if they make it that far as having a journey here) so I made the link between ToS and being scammed, and wanted to point out that «moving forward with them» was not an option.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

I understand that and do agree that not sticking to the terms will increase scam probability. However in this case the communication has already happened, so there's nothing she can do about that now. The question is now whether or not it's a scam, and just because a company decides to cut a corner, doesn't mean it's a scam. It's up to her to decide if she wants to take that risk, so I'm just giving her a chance to see all sides of it.

fe9b8d82 · ‎10-17-2023

It's not a company cutting a corner, it's a scammer with a potential victim, about to reel them in. The original job posting was most likely removed by Upwork.

When you choose to work outside Upwork's terms, you lose what (little) protection you do have when you get scammed. You also put your account at risk since you're violating the ToS.

This is 100% a scam, and may as well have a big warning label in bright red neon letters saying "SCAM." Read these forums, and this is an absolutely classic scam.

To the OP: You are being scammed if you proceed with this project. Anyone who tells you otherwise is giving you terrible advice.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

I'd like to reiterate that I never advised her to proceed with the project. I actually stated that my suggestion was to ask them reactivate the Upwork project for her own safety instead of just assuming it's a scam. What if she does ask them, and then they do it? With your advice she'd just miss out on a paying project. It's not always black and white with these things and you need to know how to research things for yourself instead of having strangers tell you what to do.

fe9b8d82 · ‎10-17-2023

If you want to be scammed, and then come back to the forums complaining about how you were scammed, sure do it.

Please read the Upwork Academy links, don't communicate outside of Upwork until you have an Upwork contract with the client in place, and learn more about how to be a successful, smart freelancer.

This is 100% a scam. Proceed at your own risk, but you're going to regret it.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

Miles, while I appreciate that you want her to play it safe, what you're saying here just simply isn't true. It's not 100% a scam just because they'd rather not pay Upwork's fees. Is it unfair to Upwork? Sure. But that does not mean that it's not a legitimate job opportunity. We've all seen companies cut corners before. I have personally had legitimate companies use Upwork to find me, and then contact me outside of the platform to hire me. I'm not the one who violated the terms of service. They are. I wasn't even aware. I didn't even know they found me through Upwork until much later when I asked how they found me. We never moved communication outside of Upwork because we never communicated on here at all. Of course I'm not suggesting that she or anyone else communicate outside of Upwork, but it's already too late for that in this case. She already has. So the question is, is it a scam? And there's no guarantee that it is. If she decides to proceed then it is up to her to then do all of her research and everything necessary legally to protect herself before doing any work. I feel like that is the real lesson here, not just scaring her into thinking it's a scam.

fe9b8d82 · ‎10-17-2023

The only real lesson is that your forum advice is pretty terrible.

I mean, hey, you believe what you want, and if she chooses to follow your advice then gets burnt, go with God.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

My advice is to research the company and people that's she talking to instead of just assuming something is a scam. How is that terrible advice? I've had multiple successful jobs from companies that found me on here but never reached out to me through here. If I had just assumed they were scams I wouldn't have those relationships today. I have proof to back up what I'm saying, and you don't, hence my advice is "terrible". Enough said.

yofazza · ‎10-17-2023

I agree but in this particular case it's a 100% scam. The M.O. is known and victims post about it almost daily.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

Is there any harm in her researching or asking for credentials, proof of legitimacy, phone numbers, websites, though? Just to make sure before making an assumption? That's all I'm saying. The communication has already happened so this no longer even a question about violating ToS.

yofazza · ‎10-17-2023

No harm, but waste of time.

You know these arguments wouldn't exist if Upwork did something about the repeated scams. 😀

See here I just posted something similar.

Some people don't know, some others are careful, the rest know and are fed up and tend to blame the victim.

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

I've found that the second you start asking real questions that the scammers will usually just reveal themselves by not responding, deleting profiles, and things like that, so for some peace of mind and closure, I'd say she should just ask.

You know these arguments wouldn't exist if Upwork did something about the repeated scams. 😀

-YES. We can all agree on this. 😁

yofazza · ‎10-17-2023

See Marco Antonio's post below. Another one that will attract victim-blaming for not reading the ToS 🙏

We know newbs don't read ToS (at least most of them), so humans should find other solution.

3 decades ago they gave a 1 inch-thick book as game manuals. Then they use 'walkthroughs' in-game. That's what humans should do.

5825157d · ‎10-17-2023

Hello all

I am new here

I was near to fall in the same trap.

I receive a fraudulent email that appear to come from upworks. then send me to a telegram chat.

This is my first job, so is a very bad first inpression on this platform.

This is the email:

Appear to be sent trought the platform:

**Edited for community guidelines**

This is the chat:

**Edited for community guidelines**

I thing there are data anougth to comprobe a criminal intention. Is a well prepared scheme.

Be carefull

Best regards

Marco Achury

bridgewater_tim · ‎10-17-2023

Hey Marco,

I've been chiming in quite a bit on this thread as I'm sure you can see. The OP didn't provide any of this, so I was only going off based on what information she did provide. I also wasn't familiar with Telegram at all, but there are many apps that I'm not familiar with. Yeah this is clearly a scam attempt, I think posting this will help other folks be on the look out for it. 👍🏽

yofazza · ‎10-17-2023

Appear to be sent trought the platform:

It is sent through the platform, it's a notification email from your Upwork's message board.

It is a scam, see here for more.

51c5bc16 · ‎10-18-2023

thank you all for the replies. This is the first time for me on Upwork and I obviously did not know much. Anyway, I did not go with the job and stopped communicating with this "client". But I hope Upwork could do something about these scammers because now i see a lot of posts that have similar contents and maybe 90% of them if not more are scammers ... I am attaching the last message of her last attempt to get me to proceed with the work

**Edited for community guidelines**